From Opus

Photo by tunpin.ong
Location: Riviere Bleue National Park, Grande Terre, New Caledonia

Corvus moneduloides

[edit] Identification

40 cm. Black with a rich gloss to the feathers of purple, dark blue and some green. Black bill, feet and legs, tip of the lower bill is angled up making it somewhat chisel-like in profile.

[edit] Distribution

New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands.

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species.

[edit] Habitat

Forest.

[edit] Behaviour

Diet includes insects and other invertebrates, eggs and nestlings, snails (which it drops from a height onto hard stones), and various nuts and seeds. It is known for using plant material to manufacture hooks or barbs for extracting grubs from inside logs and branches. It shows great ingenuity in the search for food.

Its nest is built high in a tree with usually only 2 eggs laid from September to November.

[edit] Voice

The voice is described as a soft waa-waa or wak-wak, sometimes a hoarse waaaaw.

[edit] External Links

• View more images of this species on the ABID